Last Updated on December 30, 2018
It’s time to publish the cyber attacks statistics derived from the timelines of November (part I and part II). This month I have collected a total of 126 events that confirm the growing trend (in October this number was 113), and position this month in the third place for 2018 behind February (133 events), and July (132).
So let’s start with the Daily Trend of Events chart, which shows a sustained and irregular trend, with a peak on November 20, followed by an apparent decrease, and again a tail of activity towards the end of the month.
We are used to see Cyber Crime on top of the Motivations Behind Attacks chart, and this is the case for November as well, exceeding the psychological threshold of 80% (82.5%). Cyber Espionage is stable at 12.7% (it was 12.4% in October), while both Hacktivism and Cyber Espionage lose their momentum with respectively 3.2% (vs. 5.3% in October), and a tiny 1.6% (vs. 4.4% in October).
As always, Malware is stable on top of the Attack Vectors chart with 31% (it was 28.3% in October). Account hijackings rank at number two with 19.8% (vs. 12.4% in October) ahead of targeted attacks with 12.7% (it was 14.2% in October). Unknown attack vectors rank at number four.
Crooks decided to diversify their business in November, so attacks targeting multiple targets rank on top of the Distribution of Targets chart with 23.0% (up from 19.8% of October), ahead of single individuals and human health, respectively with 19% and 11.9%).
As always, bear in mind that the sample refers exclusively to the attacks included in my timelines, aiming to provide an high level overview of the “cyber landscape”.
If you want to have an idea of how fragile our data are inside the cyberspace, have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 (regularly updated). You may also want to have a look at the Cyber Attack Statistics, and of course follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates, and feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts).
